Richard Hartshorne

Period1809

MediumGouache on ivory in gold, colorless glass, lacquered wood frame

DimensionsImage: 2.63 × 2.13 in. (6.7 × 5.4 cm)
Frame: 4.88 × 3.88 in. (12.4 × 9.8 cm)

InscribedHandwritten in ink on the back of the frame within a red bordered paper label is the inscription "Richard / Hartshorne / B. Dec 19 1752 / D. Oct 3 1831" Below the paper label is an earlier inscription which appears to read "R. Hartshorne 1721 / 1805." The paper label appears to correct the identification of the sitter, who is originally identified as Robert Hartshorne (1721 - 1805).

SignedThe miniature is signed in the dark shaded area to the lower right of the sitter and reads "Anderson / Pinxit / 1809." An additional inscription below the date is currently indecipherable.

ClassificationsPortrait Miniatures & Silhouettes

Credit LineGift of Mary Minturn Adams in memory of her Hartshorne Ancestors, 2018

Object number2018.10.5

DescriptionA miniature portrait of Richard Hartshorne in gouache on an ivory oval. Richard poses in 3/4 view facing right. The sitter has brown eyes and dark brows and wears his thinning black hair combed forward with fringed sideburns and a curly topknot above his forehead. His white shirt collar is worn high and ends above his jaw line, as does his white waistcoat. His black close fitting coat includes "M" notched lapels and a double row of brass buttons. The background shades from dark grayish brown to pale grayish tan. The oval rests inside a rectangular black lacquered frame with a gold band and glass bezel. The frame retains its original decorative brass hanging loop held in place by a molded brass acorn and oak leaf bracket.
Curatorial RemarksThe artist of Richard Hartshorne's miniature portrait may be Alexander Anderson (1775 - 1870) of New York. Anderson was born on 21 April 1775 in New York City. Considered the father of American wood engraving, Anderson began practicing his engraving skills on copper, using flattened pennies. One of his earliest engravings was published in 1791 when he was sixteen. At the urging of his father, however, he studied medicine at Columbia College. He served as a physician at Belleview hospital during the yellow fever epidemic in 1795, and obtained his medical degree in 1796. He returned to his engraving work in 1797, and by 1798 had given up his medical career entirely. Anderson also produced a small number of portrait miniatures. At the same time, he began to experiment with wood engravings, practicing on blocks of boxwood using tools he made himself. By 1820 he focused exclusively on engraving, usually in wood. Anderson also briefly owned a small bookshop called the "Liliputian Book-Store," the first known such establishment in America to sell exclusively children's books. He was still active in 1860, when he appeared in the Federal Census at the age of 84, living in New York City with his daughter Julia and grandson Edwin, listed as "engraver." Anderson died on 17 January 1870 in Jersey City. He is buried in Greenwood Cemetery in Brooklyn. His tombstone bears the epitaph "The Father of American Wood Engraving." A partially completed oil portrait of Anderson by artist John Wesley Jarvis (1780 - 1839) is in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Anderson most likely taught himself miniature portrait painting, possibly as a way to earn additional income. He produced relatively few miniatures, putting aside his portrait work as he did his medical career in order to focus solely on wood engraving.NotesRichard Hartshorne was born in December 1752, a son of Robert Hartshorne and Sarah Saltar. He died on 3 October 1831 at the age of 78 years. Richard married Susanna Ustick (1760 - 1833), daughter of William Ustick (1731 - 1806) and Susanna Pelletreau (1733 - 1783) of New York. Richard and Susanna had five daughters (one of whom died young) and one son. Only one of their children, their son Robert, married. The Ustick family were Episcopalians, and all of Richard's and Susanna's children were raised in that faith. The family maintained a pew in Christ Episcopal Church in Shrewsbury. Hartshorne became a merchant in New York by the 1770s. For a brief period during the American Revolution, he may have relocated to Richmond, VA. After the war, Hartshorne became increasingly involved in marine insurance underwriting, at first in partnership with Joseph Lindley and later with several members of the Rhinelander family, prominent New Yorkers. For much of the nineteenth century, Richard Hartshorne and his descendants aggresively sought compensation from the United States government for losses sustained through vessel and cargo captures before 1800 by British, French, and Spanish privateers. By the 1790s, Hartshorne also began investing in land. He held interests in central Pennsylvania, in Ontario County in central New York, and in Erie County in northwest Pennsylvania. He purchased the Hartshorne family estate Portland from his father Robert in 1799 for $15,000. Family papers document Richard's agricultural activities, raising sheep, harvesting timber, and improving access to his hilly property. Also during Hartshorne's lifetime, the U.S. government took possession of Sandy Hook in stages. First, the lighthouse and its four-acre parcel were ceded in 1790 to the Federal Government by the States of New York and New Jersey. In 1806, the Federal Government acquired 175 additional acres on Sandy Hook. In 1817, Richard and his wife deeded the remaining 1,230 acres of Sandy Hook property to the Government. The Historical Association owns a portrait of Richard Hartshorne's wife, Susanna Ustick Hartshorne (please see accession number 2018.10.6.

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